The Ones Who Lived

by Ashley Nemer

  "June to November I think." She said.

  "So, we have a couple months to plan then." He retorted. "Good I will figure up a solution don't you worry."

  "I'm not too too worried, I know you will figure something out."

  The two sat on the edge of his bed in silence for two minutes. The tension between them had grown over the week. It wasn't a bad tension but a noticeable one.

  "Guess I should leave you for the night then."

  "You don't have to Amy." He extended his hand out to cover hers, "If you want to stay you can."

  "I promised Anthony I would play a game or two of cards with him tonight, I should really get going to that."

  "I am sure he would understand if you wanted to," Sam paused a moment and then leaned over and kissed her lips lightly. "Stay."

  Amelia's face went from a warm and welcoming look to a scared and anxious one the moment his lips touched hers. That made him feel like a complete fool. He pulled away quickly and immediately started to apologize.

  "Amy I'm sorry I thought you and I were on the same page."

  She stood up quickly and pretended to smooth her pants out with her hands, "It's fine, and we are. I am sorry, I didn't mean to react like that, I have to go Sam, goodnight."

  Before any other words could be exchanged she was out of the room and racing down the hallway. Man, he had blown that. Not just their first kiss, but his first kiss ever. And the girl was found running out of the room and not for a good reason.

  Sunny watched from across the hall as her cousin and now new sister kissed. She didn't understand why Sam did that, and it upset her. Upset both the girls it seemed. She knew that they hadn't seen her watching. Sunny knew how to be invisible, that was one thing little kids did well. Overhearing them discuss the water supply worried her too. She had heard Amelia mumbling to herself a few times about preparing for the future. Maybe that's what she was talking about.

  She slowly and quietly shut the door to the room she was in, so Sam wouldn't find out she spied. Her room location ended up near Amelia's and that was at the other end of the house. She knew that the room she currently was in would be off limits. But she just wanted to see them. Anthony and Amelia's parents were no longer sitting in the closet but had been buried with the rest of the parents. However, Sunny felt like she could still feel their presence in the room.

  The little girl desperately tried to feel her mother's presence and thought maybe if she went where Amelia's mother had died maybe she would feel her own.

  "I miss you momma." She said in the tiniest of voices. They had taught her to believe in God and the angels, she hoped they had both become angels when their death came. When she closed her eyes, she could picture their family times together, sitting at the park, laughing or swimming at the community pool.

  Sunny became so engulfed in her memories of her past that she hadn't realized Sam came into the room. He had opened the door behind her and had been watching her talk to her dead mother. Her face turned red and she instantly felt embarrassed. She knew she was the youngest by far in her new family, but she didn't want them to see her as a baby, and now Sam would because she was acting like one.

  Her face started to crunch up and tears slowly leaked through her now closed eye lids. She was looking at blackness and feeling shame and sadness wash all over her. She knew that Sam had his arms around her and was trying to comfort her, but it wasn't helping. She felt like a storm inside, full of anger and rage. When she had entered this room, it was intended to help her heal, but like the weather outside, the longer she stayed the worse the feelings became.

  She swore the more she cried inside the worse the storm became and that suited her just fine. She couldn't hold it in any longer. She missed her parents and needed to let it out.

  "Sunny it's okay, you're not alone, we all feel the way you do." Sam said softly in her ear.

  "No, you don't, you all feel normal sadness. There is something wrong with me. What I feel isn't normal."

  Sam cooed at his cousin and tried to calm her down, "What is it you feel Sunny?"

  "Darkness, I feel darkness."

  Chapter Five - Things Change

  SUNNY LET SAM HOLD her for a while longer before she left his embrace and returned to her own bedroom. Sunny knew Sam was following her to the other bedroom. She had decisions to make and she didn't know how to make them. At the age of six she had already lost her whole family and the life she had known. How does she handle that?

  Making matters worse it seemed like every time Sunny cried it would rain outside. She had tried using the iPad she had to search up activities like that, emotions causing rainstorms, but the internet had finally stopped working, it was pointless. Sunny's world felt like not only was it changing daily, sometimes for the better, but ultimately for the worst. She was aware that no matter what was done today, tomorrow would be a new fight and a new life-threatening situation.

  "I need to go" she said softly to her cousin Sam. In the background she could hear the thunder from outside. It hadn't been raining today, it seemed out of place to suddenly hear it.

  "What caused you to come in here kiddo?"

  His voice was calm and cool; she was able to find comfort listening to the tenor of his dialog.

  "I saw you kiss Amelia and it bothered me." Another sound of thunder echoed the room, this time it sounded closer.

  "Oh," Sam said. Sunny watched him look over her expectantly for a few minutes and then stood up and moved to sit on the bed of his best friends' dead parents. "Did that upset you Sunny?"

  She nodded her head and then curled her legs up against her while on the floor. "Yeah I don't want to have to leave."

  "Why would we need to leave?" Sam asked with an over exacerbation.

  "Because I saw her get angry with you, and they will make us leave."

  Sunny had always been smart for her age, but even with her advanced skill set she wasn't quite aware of how things worked with older individuals and relationships. It scared her not understanding and not knowing what the future held for them.

  "I promise you," Sam said to her as he held her close, "they aren't kicking us out. Amy and I, we go back and forth. We both really like each other but we are friends and that makes it hard."

  "And you're sure she won't make us leave?" Sunny said sniffling her nose and wiping it on her shirt sleeve.

  "Yes, I can promise you that for sure."

  Sunny nodded and then moved away from her cousin. "I guess then I will go do the rest of my chores." Then just like that she had left the room. When she walked away from Sam, she had heard the rain lightly pelting the roof of the house. Her emotions started to take over and she knew she was losing control. She noticed that as her anger rose the intensity of the storm increased. The weather outside became a full-on calamity now and somehow that made her feel worse.

  She wasn't sure if what Sam told her is the truth. He couldn't know for certain she would always get to stay here, but she would choose to have faith in him and in this decision he made. She possessed no other choice anyway.

  What happened upstairs through Amelia off kilter badly, she had promised Anthony that nothing would happen between her and Sam, even though she knew she wanted more. It was clear he wanted more with her. She had blown it, blown their first kiss along with her first kiss ever. She made a mess and now she was going to cook him dinner like nothing went wrong. How was she going to even focus? Anthony had been on his latest kick about fortification of the house's enhancements. He spent more and more time in the attic doing god knew what, but that wasn't her concern right now.

  Every night she took inventory of the food and checked each item for spoiling. As of her latest count they were doing good holding steady on their vegetables. Their meat supply was going to run out soon based on their current consumption habits. Which meant they either needed to find more frozen meats or more vegetables that held a good source of protein. Amelia supposed they could always take up hunting their protein down too.
>
  Her mother had made her attend cooking classes, and since their deaths, Amelia was very grateful of it. At least she knew how to balance a meal and cook more than just the basic items. Her only real struggle was seeing how they were going to be able to plan for a real future, one that wasn't just tomorrow or next week but for the next year or ten years.

  Before the event happened Anthony, Sam and Amelia were all slated to pick out their colleges this school year, their senior year. Now that exciting future had suddenly been canceled. Each night Amelia sat out on the patio in the front yard watching the neighbors. Kids, children, young teens. None of them seemed to have it together and more and more kids seemed to vanish as days went by. She wasn't sure if it was because they were dying with no food or if they were migrating to some other location. Part of her felt guilty that they hadn't offered their home to the children. She knew realistically that keeping the four of them safe was going to be enough of a challenge. They couldn't take on their whole neighborhood.

  Amelia felt deep inside that she should have followed the one adult she spotted on the first day of the event. It was possible he could have helped their situation somehow.

  Amelia was now busy in the kitchen putting together a steak stew when Sam walked into the doorway. His frame wasn't big, he was a medium size guy, but he came across large compared to what he had been just six months ago. She stopped mixing at the stove and glanced over to him. She couldn't help smiling.

  "I am glad to see you using that." He pointed his finger towards the stove.

  Sam had designed a wood burning stove to replace the current stove that had been in the kitchen. Amelia was also worried about the stove taking up too much electricity on the solar panels. None of them were looking forward to the hot showers becoming cold. But they all knew it was a very real possibility that could happen one day.

  "I do love the stove Sam. I believe I've told you that before." She was still gazing over at him with the smile plastered on her lips. Her gratitude was genuine, and she didn't know how else to express it.

  "I know you did, doesn't mean I don't love hearing it." Sam smiled at her.

  Amelia placed her ladle down on the stovetop and stepped away from it for a moment; she looked at Sam with earnest and reverence. She did admire him, and she cared about him. If Amelia let herself admit the truth, she loved him. She had for a while now.

  "I am a total klutz and I am sorry." Amelia's declaration took Sam by surprise, which was evident in his reaction.

  Sam's facial response at first looked confused, but he quickly caught onto her meaning. "You have nothing to be sorry about Amy, I'm the one who can't keep my act together."

  "But you were so sweet, and I ruined it." Her voice was soft almost tearful, the remorse evident in the words she quietly said.

  Sam shook his head back and forth, "You didn't ruin anything. Although I have to warn you, Sunny saw it."

  "She did?" Amelia said in shocked tone.

  "Yes, and she is now afraid you're going to kick us out for putting the moves on you and you being offended."

  Amelia whispered, "I wasn't offended." Her fingers moved to rest on his arm.

  "I hope not." He said softly back.

  "Maybe we could try again later, when I am not caught so much off guard?" Her eyes were looking up at him, her eyelids batting slowly at him, trying to keep back tears.

  Sam let a smile creep slowly onto his face as he placed one hand on the small of her back and pulled her towards him, "I think I like you off guard." His warm lips hit hers a second later and this time instead of protesting she joined in.

  Amelia wrapped her arms around his neck and let him kiss her good and hard. By the time they broke apart she could smell the beef starting to burn and pushed out of his embrace and ran to the stove.

  "I liked that Amy." He said.

  She didn't respond right away, she let the ladle make its way around the soup a few times before determining what to respond with. "Maybe we can have round two tonight, maybe out on a walk?"

  "Like a date?" Sam said anxiously.

  "Yes, like a date!" Amelia giggled in response.

  She nodded her head up and down in agreement to the date, but instead of five thirty like he suggested she said seven. They would meet out at the opening of the fence and travel into the local surroundings tonight to see what the world had to bestow on them.

  "Your brother is going to hate this, you know that right?"

  She nodded. "I know but we will be eighteen in a couple months and seeing as all the adults we know are gone, I think I can kinda do what I want."

  "I like the way you think Amelia."

  Amelia grinned at Sam, "Me to." She moved her hand softly on his chest and pushed him back, "Now please let me finish dinner, I'll see you later."

  When she went back to focusing on her food preparation she started to feel a little light headed. She knew it was anticipation and excitement. She had always been intimidated by the opposite sex but this time she wasn't going to let fear win. This time she would take charge.

  The sun set early that night, around seven fifteen. They had just made it outside of the perimeter of the house as the sky shifted coloring into the reds and oranges that now painted the sky line.

  "It's beautiful isn't it?" Amelia said to Sam.

  "Yes, it gives off this very peaceful yet surreal vibe when you look out on it."

  Sam offered his arm to Amelia and she took it gladly. They walked arm in arm around the first block inside their little world. "I am kind of surprised we haven't spent more time getting to know the people in our neighborhood." He commented.

  "Anthony is very worried that people will try and take our supplies."

  "I know that, I was just thinking that since we don't know what has happened out here that killed only the adult's maybe it would make more sense if we sort of banned together." Sam was lightly touching her skin on the top of her hand while they walked, caressing it softly with his fingertips.

  "How do we know that this is only happening here in Saint Pete?” She asked.

  Sam shook his head, "We don't we can only assume."

  Amelia snickered, "You know what they say about assuming right?"

  They both laughed, and as they turned around the next corner they heard a loud sound, like a bomb going off. They stopped moving and both tensed up, essentially freezing in place.

  Amelia stuttered out, "What was that?"

  "Some kind of explosion." Sam turned his head looking around.

  "There. I see it, smoke!" Amelia said with excitement pointing off in the distance.

  "Do you think it was a bomb?" Sam questioned.

  "How should I know, I would think if we were under attacked there would be more than one explosion though?"

  Amelia's face paled as a thought entered her head. "Sam, you remember when you worried about the natural gas?"

  He nodded his head.

  "The facility CFG is out that way."

  "Who is CFG?" Sam said with a quizzical look on his face.

  "Come on you know, Central Florida Gas!" Amelia said with excitement and fright in her voice.

  They both turned toward their home and started running. While they were in motion back to the house, Amelia yelled out "Go turn off the gas valve, first thing we have to do is cut the gas to the house!"

  As the two ran to their house they could hear other explosions off in the distance starting.

  The two made it back onto their property and inside the house. Amelia started running through the place looking for Sunny and Anthony. Sam ran into the garage and found the wrench hanging on the wall. He rushed to the front yard where he started frantically turning the valve into the off position. Once he had successfully cut the flow of gas to their home he fell back into the grass and looked up to the sky. The cloud coverage was back, it looked like rain was about to start back up. It had now rained for a week straight and he didn't know if that was a blessing or a curse.

  "Sam did you get
it?" Anthony screamed, as he bolted out of the front door and over to the gas main.

  "Yeah I did, but man that was scary!"

  "Thank god you organized all the tools like that, who knows how long it would have taken to find the right wrench otherwise." Anthony said to his friend. He extended a hand towards Sam who was now moving to stand up.

  "We should have done that the day we decided to have a plan in place to keep cooking."

  Amelia and Sunny walked outside and came to stand behind the guys. "Cooking is fine but what about showers?" Sunny asked.

  "Don’t worry Sunny. We have an electric water heater for showers that my dad installed. He was very prepared.” Anthony said.

  "Do you think we need to cut the gas off to anything else?” Sam inquired.

  Shaking his head back and forth, "Nope, it’s just this one spot. Hey Sam, how is the irrigation system working?"

  “I need to go to the library and look up some books on it,” Sam said in a tone that almost sounded like he was embarrassed.

  "How are you going to find the book you need?" Sunny asked.

  "What do you mean?" Anthony replied.

  "If they have no power how will you find it? You can't use the computer anymore."

  The three older kids all laughed and looked at one another. They were all thinking back to their librarian Mrs. Potner and how she made them learn the Dewy Decimal System last year.

  "Sunny don't you worry I got that covered." Sam smiled at his cousin and said proudly.

  "Okay good because I don't want a waterless shower, I need to be clean!" The young girl said with a matter of fact tone.

  "You and me sister, you and me both." Amelia placed her arm around Sunny and started to walk back into the house.

  Once the girls shut the front door Anthony looked at Sam.

  "What were you two doing out here anyway?" He demanded from his best friend.